


neither angel nor devil

by plumstagram



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Codependency, Gen, Ghost Ben Hargreeves, No Apocalypse, No Incest, PSEUDO INCEST IS REAL INCEST DON'T BE GROSS, Protective Siblings, anyways i promise this fic is mostly lighthearted!!!, five came back early n busted vanya out, i mean besides the whole ghost thing ben has going on, i wonder why maybe it's their lifetime of trauma:// idk, major character death is klaus and ben only mentioned, no beta we die like ben, shenanigans between brothers who've been stuck together for 10+ years: the fic, then he busted luther's nose, this is not a dark fic i promise but the boys r sad sometimes, tw for klaus-related things
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2020-12-28 11:07:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21135710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plumstagram/pseuds/plumstagram
Summary: Ben turned and squinted at Klaus. “Are you sure you don’t have an arson problem?”Klaus stared at him. “Fuck you.”“What?” Luther asked, stepping between the shelves confusedly, “Were you talking to me?”Four times Klaus talked to Ben in front of their siblings, and one time Ben talked to Klaus in front of their siblings.





	1. fahrenheit 451 in relation to benjamin hargreeves

**Author's Note:**

> updates at 12pm est on sundays!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> someone said that ender's game is a good metaphor for the umbrella academy and i'm here to assert that i totally did that on purpose

“I think you have an arson problem,” Ben said, watching as _Ender’s Game_ slowly burned, charring the hardwood floor in the process.

Face-down on the floor, Klaus turned his head to look at Ben. “Why, are you complaining?”

“No, I’m just remembering that time you almost gave yourself smoke inhalation because you burned twenty-nine candles with the windows and door shut,” Ben deadpanned, poking at the book. His finger went straight though. “Who were you trying to summon, anyways?”

Klaus didn’t say anything, but he suddenly seemed nervous. Not nervous. Scared, maybe. Readjusting his legs, Ben waited patiently. He tugged on his hoodie strings, and absentmindedly went over the list of movies he wanted to watch. It was improbably extensive. Maybe he could bother Klaus into bothering Allison into getting them Webflix.

Klaus sighed deeply, and turned his face back down to the floor, muffling his voice. “I was trying to summon the others. Who died.”

It took a second for Ben to understand. “Did you?” he asked carefully. The other 36 had always been a taboo topic, but moreso for Klaus than the others.

Klaus turned over entirely, and stared into the fire. “Yeah.”

“Is that when _they _bother you?”

_They_ being very small a handful of ghosts that, for some literally godforsaken reason, are capable of tracking Klaus down.

Okay. An explanation: ghosts tend to get a little obsessive over Klaus when they realize he can see them, but generally ghosts stick to a specific area or person. They stay there until they fade away, which takes a _stupidly_ long time (Ben kind of wants to punch God, or Satan, or whoever’s responsible for that genius idea). To Ben’s knowledge, _they_ are the only ghosts that can regularly leave their haunting grounds.

However, _they_ are also part of the thirty-six super powered kids that Dad didn’t traumatize for life, which meant that they obviously needed to be traumatized in other ways. Or maybe God just had it out for people with superpowers, but then again, isn’t She the one who made them? Vaguely annoyed, Ben forcibly dragged his attention from the weird tangent it went on.

Klaus breathed slowly, and scrunched up the pillow in his hands. “Not really,” he said finally, looking straight up at the ceiling, “bleeding-eyes and cat-boy just showed up one day, but burns-girl, cloud-boy, and the shapeshifter came after.” He sat up, fidgeting with the pillow’s tassels. “I summoned all the dead kids, but most of them didn’t give a shit and left. Burns-girl…”

Ben closed his eyes. “Yeah.”

The two of them sat in silence.

“Well, on the bright side,” Ben said slowly, as the thought occurred to him, “I’m pretty sure the Horror can shred them if they come back again.”

Klaus froze for a long moment, processing. Then he sat bolt upright. “Fuck! You’re right!” He laughed, a little maniacal. “We can get rid of them!” Klaus jumped to his feet, almost stumbling with the force of his excitement, “Fuck! Yes! Ben. You’re a genius and I love you. I’m getting you another book.”

Ben grinned, and stuck his hand into the fire, picking up _Ender’s Game_ just as it finished disintegrating. “Sounds good to me.”

* * *

“Can you hurry it up,” Klaus complained, sitting with his back to a shelf as Ben crouched down to look through the bottom row of books.

“No, shut up,” Ben said. Wait, that title looked interesting. “Klaus, can you open up this one?”

For the millionth time since they entered the library, Klaus sighed dramatically, yanking the book out of its place and opening to a random page. It took Ben about two seconds to read some dialogue and realize that it was a shit book. “You can put it back.”

“Benny,” Klaus said seriously, shoving the book back in place, “I’m ever-so-grateful for you and the Horror’s services in keeping murderous dead children away from me, but if you don’t pick out a book soon I’m pushing this bookshelf over and lighting the whole thing on fire.”

Ben turned and squinted at Klaus. “Are you _sure_ you don’t have an arson problem?”

Klaus stared at him. “Fuck you.”

“What?” Luther asked, stepping between the shelves confusedly, “Were you talking to me?”

Klaus heaved a sigh, and got to his feet. “No, Luther, I’m not talking to you.”

Luther furrowed his brow. His book looked comically small in his hand. “Then who were you talking to?”

“I was talking to an indecisive asshole that needs to pick a book before I leave to go do _literally anything else,_” Klaus said waspishly, giving Ben a death glare.

“Just a sec,” Ben said distractedly, scanning the shelf. If he remembered right, there should be a— there!

Klaus made a derisive noise, and snatched up the book. “Alright, time to go.”

Leaving the library, both of them ignored the puzzled “Klaus?” that came from behind them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ben n klaus r still salty about luther being luther lol
> 
> a note, paraphrased from a reply to a comment:  
in all honesty, klaus doesn't Actually have an arson problem. he does, however, use arson as a solution to a frequent problem (the problem being that ben is often bored)


	2. ben is an asshole D:

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in other news, water is wet,

“Klaus. Get up.”

Klaus rolled over. “F’ckoff B’n,” he groaned, stuffing his face into the pillow.

Ben ignored him, sticking his index finger into Klaus’ cheek. “Get up.”

Klaus only groaned again, and tucked his face firmly into the seam of the uncomfortable looking couch. “G’way.”

Ben eyed the clock again. It was almost ten and he was _bored. _Rolling his eyes, Ben stuck his entire hand wrist-deep into Klaus’ torso.

“FUCK!” Klaus resurfaced, drawing his entire body up to the arm of the couch. “You know I hate that, you asshole,” he hissed, rubbing his eyes.

“Stop being a baby, I’m bored,” Ben complained, and sat down on a lacquered wooden coffee table that probably cost more than that weird golden dick statue Klaus pawned a while back.

Klaus tucked his head into the crook of his arm, and attempted to go back to sleep. Ben rolled his eyes _again_, and stuck half his right leg into Klaus.

“MOTHERFUCKER!” Klaus yelled, eyes snapping open, “WOULD YOU CUT—” Ben stuck his leg out even further, “—THAT SHIT—” Ben got up and sat in Klaus, “_—OUT?_”

“What the fuck are you doing?” Diego asked flatly from the entrance of the room, full bondage gear on as always. From his point of view, it probably looked like Klaus was having a particularly loud seizure.

Klaus threw himself off the couch and adjusted his clothes, glaring. “Ben sat in me,” he said petulantly, and Ben gave him his best innocent smile. Klaus flipped him off.

Diego didn’t say a word, but his disapproving look spoke volumes.

“Ben, do it at eight next time, Klaus sleeps too much anyways,” Five said, sweeping by with a steaming cup of coffee. Diego stared at him incredulously.

Ben grinned. He wasn’t used to being acknowledged by his not-Klaus siblings, so being spoken to was a nice change. And at any rate, he missed Five. “Will do,” he said, saluting in Five’s direction so sloppily that Klaus cringed a little.

“Ben’s asking to get his favorite sibling privileges revoked,” Klaus grumbled, and Ben could see Five smirk from where he was pouring whiskey in his coffee.

“Wait,” Diego snapped, looking between Klaus and Five, “Five, Klaus can’t—” Five walked out of the room, completely ignoring Diego, “—Five!”

Diego turned his gaze onto Klaus. “Klaus,” he said reproachfully.

Klaus and Ben exchanged a look. Ben shrugged, heading out after Five, and Klaus unhurriedly stretched out his arms and followed. “Ah, looks like it’s time for me to go,” Klaus said, dramatically checking his nonexistent watch.

“Wait— Klaus—” Diego faltered, suddenly uncertain. “You—”

“Bye!” Klaus said cheerfully, and as he left the room, Ben twisted around and waved for him. Ducking his head down into his hoodie, Ben huffed a laugh at Diego’s dumbfounded expression. Klaus shot a lazy grin at Ben, and the two of them went upstairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry sarah i know ur a diego stan but it had to be done


	3. aha trauma who idk a trauma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ...this wasn't going to be a sad chapter ok BEN STOP BEING SAD

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ysee when i said sundays at 12 i thought it was going to be consecutive sundays. i thought wrong. sorry for the hold up everyone, i'm in quarantine rn so updates should be regular from here on out!
> 
> also, tw warning for a paragraph about klaus' death, and a half sentence about attempted assault/rape

"And put it— in— the oven— for— aw, shit. Almost made it the whole way through and everything," Klaus groaned, flopping on his side dramatically.

Ben leaned back on his hands. He thought he could almost feel the floor. "Hey, you're doing way better than we started," he said encouragingly, uncrossing his legs to nudge Klaus' skirt with his toe, "two weeks ago we only touched every five-ish claps, and now we can almost get through the whole song! That's amazing progress!"

"Auhghrgggg," Klaus said, rolling over because he didn't know how to take genuine praise.

"C'mon, Klaus, one more time. Let's try to make it the whole way through and then maybe you can get some food."

"Ugh, fine," Klaus said, sitting back up and crossing his legs. The bottoms of his feet were dirty, but his bright red toenails were immaculately painted the same color as Ben's fingernails, because Klaus was really getting the hang of this corporeality thing. Maybe the floor by Ben's closet would never be the same, but it was definitely worth it to see Klaus' delighted expression every time he caught sight of Ben's nails, like a physical reminder (Well. In a sense.) that Klaus' powers could do good things, too.

"Alright— patty— cake— patty— cake— ba-ker's— man. Bake me— a cake as— fast as— oh hey Ally."

Ben looked up. Allison was standing next to them, watching Ben with a perplexed expression. She held up her notebook. _What's going on?_

Klaus slowly set his hands back in his lap, and glanced at Ben. He looked back up at Allison, smilingly nervously. "Uh, nothing much? Just playing a game, you know how it is."

Allison furrowed her brow. She looked at Ben (or more likely, the spot of floor Ben was sitting on), and then around the room like she might catch someone peeking out from behind the furniture. She raised her notebook again. _But it sounded like two people were playing?_

Klaus and Ben looked at each other for a long moment. "Uh, you don't see anyone else here?" Klaus asked as his fist clenched, faintly glowing blue. Ben waved a hand in front of Allison's face.

The woman in question shook her head, looking at Klaus oddly. Ben reached over and pinched Klaus' shirt, giving it a sharp tug. Allison's eyes darted over to the motion, but she didn't spare Ben a single glance.

"....Huh." Klaus got to his feet and smoothed out his skirt. "Well. I'm just gonna. Go." He strode out of the room, and Ben nudged Allison's shoulder when she made to follow. She whirled around, but no one was there.

* * *

"What the fuck," Klaus said to the ceiling, draped over three kitchen stools. "You were there! You could touch things! How did she not see you!"

“It’s probably harder to make me visible to others because I’m already visible to you,” Ben offered.

Klaus turned his head to stare at Ben balefully, and then threw himself on the ground. "How do I make you look _more_ visible,” he complained. “You look perfectly visible to me.”

Ben crouched down, and then shuffled forward a few inches when it was clear Klaus wasn't intending on getting up. "You know, I might be a ghost but I don't actually know _everything_ about your powers," he said, fixing his gaze on Klaus' peeved expression. "It kinda sucks that we didn't realize I could be invisible and corporeal sooner, but at least we know now."

Ben licked his lips nervously and thought about what he was going to say next very carefully. "I think— maybe we should— rope someone else into this. Just so we have someone that can tell us if I'm visible or not."

Klaus snorted. "Yeah, no."

Ben opened his mouth to protest, but stopped himself. His eyes darted to the faintly yellow bruise creeping out of the collar of Klaus' shirt, and he looked away quickly. Last time Ben had asked Klaus to involve their siblings in something Klaus had— left Ben alone. Had left Ben standing next to standing next to Klaus' empty, _dead_ body as Luther got it on with some furry a couple yards away and Ben was _by himself, _standing over Klaus like he was just taking a nap in an empty alleyway while Ben stood guard for whoever the hell might bother a skinny skirt-wearing homeless druggie pansexual. And then Ben was screaming, soundless over the noise of the club and trying to shake Klaus like there was some jackass coming over with greedy hands and a knife for Klaus' coat or money or mouth.

Ben bit his lip. "Okay," he said. "We can practice with that mirror in your room, then."

Klaus tipped his head in Ben's direction. His hands glowed blue, and he sat up and reached for Ben's hand.

They sat there, holding hands until Mom came in and asked what Klaus wanted for dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> edited the tags on this, again pls lmk if anyone needs/thinks i should have smth tagged!


	4. rip five he's too caffeinated to be sad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> fun fact of the day: cephalopods see in black and white:)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's 12 noon somewhere so i'm not technically late

"Seriously?" Ben said, shocked. "He had that book the whole time?"

Helen Cho, one of Vanya's orchestra-mates who had apparently been killed by Vanya's jackass boyfriend, nodded. "Yeah. He took it everywhere with him. At first I thought it was weird because it didn't really look like any of his other stuff, but then I read over his shoulder and it had all this information on Number Seven's powers. Or Vanya's powers, I suppose."

"...well." Klaus said. "Whoops."

"Is the book still in that cabin?" Ben asked.

Helen pursed her lips. "I believe so. I can't see why it wouldn't be."

Ben turned to Klaus, and stared at him.

"What?" Klaus said, like an idiot. "Oh! Yeah, sure, I'll tell Five. No need for your Stare of Doom."

Ben drew back, offended. "That is _not_ my Stare of Doom. That is, at best, two levels under that, and barely even qualifies as—"

"What are you telling me?" Five cut in, Vanya trailing in behind him, like they were kids again. They must have just finished training, so it was _really_ like they were kids again.

"That. Um. That Vanya's jackass ex might've had a journal about her powers written by Dad?"

Five stopped at his tracks, clearly surprised even if his face didn't show it. "Did he."

"He did?" Vanya blurted, astonished by the jackass lengths a jackass ex would go to be a jackass. Then she thought about it. "Oh wait. I forgot about that."

Klaus rocked on his heels, hands clutched together behind his back. "Mmmhm."

Five rebooted, raising his mug of alcoholic something to his lips and taking a sip. "And how do you know that?"

Klaus smiled, slow and saccharine. "A little birdie told me."

"Tell them my name," Helen interrupted, glaring at Vanya almost viciously. "Tell them what happened."

Ben and Klaus turned to look at her almost in unison. Klaus' smile slipped from his face as he sized Helen up. He cocked his head at Ben. "You're not upset with Vanya, are you?" Ben said coolly as Five and Vanya watched Klaus fall silent apprehensively.

Helen scowled. "She _got me killed!_"

Ben smiled with no humor. "Too bad, so sad. She didn't kill you. She didn't try to get you killed either. Actually, she _killed_ the guy who killed you. So." He leaned forward a little. "_You're not upset with Vanya, are you?_"

Helen scowled for a little longer, before dropping it. "No," she muttered, "I'm not."

Ben straightened. He blinked quickly as the room bled back into color. "Good." He looked at Klaus. "Go ahead."

"Klaus?" Vanya asked cautiously, eyes flickering between him and the general space Helen was occupying.

"Hm," Klaus said. He quickly spun back around to face Five and Vanya, who blinked in surprise but didn't otherwise react to Klaus'... Klaus-ness. "Hey, did you know that ex-jackass killed the first chair in Vanya's orchestra and then hid the body in his attic?"

"Helen?" Vanya squeaked, "he killed Helen Cho?"

Klaus nodded. "Yup."

After a long pause where Klaus failed to elaborate, Five sighed. "Has she been following Harold Jenkins since her death?"

"Yeah. She wasn't around the _entire_ time, but she was there for almost everything." Klaus squinted. "You believe me about seeing her?"

Five rolled his eyes. "_Obviously._ You've been having withdrawal symptoms for what, three weeks?"

"Three and a half," Klaus corrected, "but yeah."

"And besides," Five continued, "you've been talking to Ben ever since Dad's funeral." He frowned a little. "Have drugs stopped working on the ghosts, or is it just Ben?"

"...it's just Ben." Klaus shifted uncomfortably, and so did Helen. Ben almost laughed. It was her own fault for sticking around to listen to the family drama that undoubtedly occurred whenever any of Ben's (living) siblings talked to each other.

Vanya's face had gone bloodless-white. "Ben's here?" She stammered, clutching the bottom of her shirt with equally pale knuckles. Ben squashed down the feeling of vindictiveness rising in his chest. Vanya had been suffering from Rumor-induced self-esteem issues for most of her life. At the time of Ben's death she'd probably have believed Luther and Allison and Diego if they told her the sky was green.

Klaus looked away to meet Ben's eyes. "...yeah."

Five's eyebrows shot up. "He's _here?_ In this room?"

Klaus nodded mutely.

"Hey," Ben said, tipping his chin at their two siblings, "wanna try to manifest me?"

"Klaus," Five said, suddenly looking closer to his physical age than he did when he was actually thirteen, "I know Ben's mad at me but can you tell him that I didn't mean to leave?"

In unison, Klaus and Ben's mouths snapped shut as they turned to look at Five. "You think Ben's mad at you?"

Five averted his gaze to the floor. "He hasn't tried to talk to me for the entire time I've been back," he said flatly. "I'm pretty sure that means he's mad at me."

Klaus choked out a laugh. "Five. Fivey. My dearest, littlest brother." Five glared at him, but it was less cutting than it usually was. "Ben isn't mad at you. Ben's just not talking to you because he didn't think he _could_."

For a moment Five looked almost visibly relieved before he regained his composure. "Why wouldn't he be able to talk to me? _You're_ here."

"That's because no one believed Klaus when he said Ben was here," Vanya said miserably.

Five stared at her blankly. "Why wouldn't he be here?"

"Klaus was— high. When he told us." Her jaw clenched, and she met Klaus' eyes head on despite the way she was twisting the ends of her shirt. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you," she said.

Klaus didn't say anything.

"Klaus?" Ben prompted, concerned.

"It really sucked when you guys didn't believe me because Ben also wanted to talk to you guys," Klaus said bluntly. Vanya flinched. "But," Klaus sighed deeply, "I forgive you."

Ben was about to ask Klaus to manifest him again until Allison and Luther stopped at the entrance of the room. "What are you guys doing?" Luther asked suspiciously. Allison twitched a little, which probably meant Luther just got elbowed.

Five stiffened. "None of your business. Vanya, I'll see you for training in two days." And with that he teleported out of the room.

Ben snickered. "Aww, he's_ embarrassed._"

"Come down for dinner and we'll make you something!" Klaus shouted at the ceiling. He spun on his heel, tugging Vanya by the wrist and leading her out of the room through the other entrance. "C'mon, let's go paint our nails or something. Training powers _sucks_."

Vanya giggled a little wetly. "Ok."

"You're training your powers?" Allison asked in a way that was probably supposed to sound less suspicious than Luther but wasn't actually any less suspicious.

"Yup!" Klaus answered back cheerfully, completely missing the look Allison and Luther exchanged. As Klaus swept out of the room, Vanya and Ben in tow, Ben walked straight into instead of through an armchair, shifting it an inch. He froze, and then nudged the chair. It shifted again. 

Ben's face broke into a smile, and he dodged around the chair to catch up to Klaus.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm writing a larger fic rn that will encompass this fic! pls look forward to it!!
> 
> whispers/ also lmk if there's anything u guys think i need to tag
> 
> thank u for reading! come talk to me on instagram (@pl.mxi) or twitter (@kvgerou) :D


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